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Tak's Effects

Custom Audio Electronics Rig 2000:

He's got a phenomenal number of effects in his system.  He'd have to become a tap dancing expert to operate them all manually, so he has them all assembled into a rack as shown here.  This routs all the effects through a series of relays & switches, and is programmable so that with one press of a button, all changes are made at once.  CAE is what Bob Bradshaw does now, as opposed to trading under his own name.   A brief description of some of the pieces follows:

 
 
On top of the rack case, a Korg DTR1 tuner is keeping it all in tune.  This is kind of an industry standard, perhaps for those who can't quite shell out for a Peterson Strobe tuner, or don't have the space.  Can also be seen in the Survive rig.

 
 

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Furman Power Conditioner.   In the top space of both these racks there are Furman Power Conditioners.  They clean up the spikes and regulate the power to an extent.  Also they have pull-out lights to illuminate the rack.


 
 

CAE Mini Mixer - Just an active unity gain mixer for interfacing effects.


 
 

Mystery Half Rack Effector, Mystery Pedal rear top shelf.
 
 

Korg Kaoss Controller - this is an extremely strange device for a guitarist to be using.  I'm not sure what he does with it.  It's a midi-controller / multi-effects unit.  The touch pad in the middle can be stroked, tapped, etc. to modify the effect or parameter in real time.  So he would have to take one hand off the guitar to use this.  Normally it would be in a keyboardist's rig.


 
 

Digitech Whammy Pedal - this does the squealing effect in "Swimmer Yo" (0:46, Track 2, Survive) among other things.  It bends notes up & down in pitch, or creates harmonies.  (This is probably either the original model or the reissue, far superior to the Whammy II which couldn't track properly as notes faded out.)  It's odd that this is the shelf too, because this is a foot controlled effect (he's got another one on the floor), so perhaps he comes over to operate both the Kaoss and the Whammy by hand at some time in the Live Gym when he needs a really bizarre sound.

Hakkai the guitar tech twists the control knob on this to produce the stutter sound at the start of "Showtime" (Track 6, Big Machine).


 
 

Boutique overdrive pedal, the Klon Centaur. The one in the rack has redder knobs.


 
 

MAXON Pedals - Two pairs of MAXON CS505 Stereo Chorus and MAXON FL301 Flanger.  I think a Phase 100 is hiding behind the pair on the middle shelf.  There are another couple of other pedals there which I can't identify.


 
 

Red Snapper - a boutique TS-808 copy.  It can't bee seen clearly but there is a Fulltone Supatrem, just behind the Red Snapper.


 
 

Fulltone Supatrem - probably the best tremolo available in a pedal, uses a proper opto circuit like in an old tube amp, no ticking.  This gives a fluttering variation in volume, such as can be found at the start of "Nagare Yuku Hibi" (Track 8, Brotherhood).


 
 

CAE Audio Controllers.  These perform the actual effect routing.   The effects are all plugged into these from behind, it appears that they have relay switching and CMOS switching.


 
 

CAE Amp Selector.  The Peavey 5150 IIs are routed through this. Each 5150 has a different setting, and is selected as desired.


 
 

Tak has four Maxon UR5J Wireless systems and one Maxon DA5 Distribution Amplifier.  It's likely that four guitars each have their own wireless pack, and so when he wants to change guitar, he just puts on the new one and selects the corresponding wireless.  At roughly US$1500 per wireless unit this is clearly only an option for mega rock stars like Tak.   KOSHI INABA (hi fangirls!) also uses a Maxon wireless for his microphone.

 
 

Under that there's a TC Electronics 2290 Delay, which is more or less the best delay it is possible to buy.

 
 

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Rocktron Studio Hush.  Everything else is creating an enormous noise of hum and hiss.  The Hush tries to keep it quiet by automatically muting when Tak isn't playing.


 
 

An Eventide H3500 Ultra Harmonizer is responsible for a lot of the harmonized guitars you hear on B'z records, such as the intro to "Never Let You Go" (Track 3, Off The Lock).  If you remember the wheedly sound that Bill & Ted made when they played air guitar, you've got the right idea.  Steve Vai is a prominent user of the Eventide.  The solo in "Ultra Soul" is another good example, real guitar hard left, harmonizer ouput hard right.   Tak's got two of them in this rack.


 
 

On the floor a pair of Custom Audio Electronics RS-10 Midi Foot Controllers - to select the active program.


 
 

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Korg Volume Pedal.  This makes swells and things possible.  He uses it very occasionally.  It may be that it is mostly used to mute the guitar between songs or for changing guitar.